Devolution: Reading List for 3-3-16

"Once they lost power, the GOP elites tried to block Obama by playing up nationalism but convinced themselves it was about conservatism. The Tea Party was supposed to be limited spending! First principles! But it was also about birtherism and death panels and other lies. The Tea Party was really the idea that Obama was taking from people who deserved help—working class whites—and giving to the undeserving.
Now the GOP elites are finding out that more of their voters prefer nationalism to conservatism—and it’s ugly."  - Matt O'Brien

"... the rest of us are not GOP primary voters for a reason. Some of us may want to vote in the Democratic primaries. Some of us may be independents and have to wait to see what dumbasses the parties elect. Some of us may belong to third parties because we’re political idealists/masochists. The point is, we have other plans for the day. They are legit plans. They don’t involve keeping the GOP from setting itself on fire." - John Scalzi

"As we will see, this is a party divided. But this party is not divided on its fundamental doubts and fears about Democratic governance and immigration. It is not divided on supporting leaders who will battle to get illegal immigration under control. That is what Donald Trump understands.
"When we look at the different dimensions of Republican thinking using a factor analysis, the conventional conservative views on national defense, regulation, markets and taxes just are not that important at the moment.
"The most powerful dimension of Republican thinking is defined by Republican voter hostility to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party, the Affordable Care Act, President Obama and his attacks on the Constitution. That one dimension explains more than twice as much of the variation in GOP thinking as the next strongest dimension." - Stanley Greenberg and James Carville

"Finally, by squeezing wages and rigging the economic game in your favor, you have invited an unprecedented political backlash – against trade, immigration, globalization, and even against the establishment itself.
"The pent-up angers and frustrations of millions of Americans who are working harder than ever yet getting nowhere, and who feel more economically insecure than ever, have finally erupted. American politics has become a cesspool of vitriol." - Robert Reich